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Chemical Senses 22: 39-52,
© 1997

research-article

‘Sniffin’ Sticks': Olfactory Performance Assessed by the Combined Testing of Odour Identification, Odor Discrimination and Olfactory Threshold

T. Hummel1,4,, B. Sekinger1, S.R. Wolf2, E. Pauli3 and G. Kobal

1Deoartment of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Erlangen-Nümberg Krankenhausstraße 9, 91054 Erlangen 2Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, University of Erlangen-Nümberg Waldstraße 1, 91054 Erlangen 3Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nümberg Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany 4Smell and Taste Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Dr Thomas Hummel, Smell and Taste Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

‘Sniffin’ Sticks' is a new test of nasal chemosensory performance based on pen-like odor dispensing devices. It comprises three tests of olfactory function, namely tests for odor threshold (n-butanol, testing by means of a single staircase), odor discrimination (15 pairs of odorants, triple forced choice) and odor identification (16 common odorants, multiple forced choice from four verbal items per test odorant). After extensive preliminary investigations the tests were applied to a group of 104 healthy volunteers (52 female, 52 male, mean age 49.5 years, range 18–84 years) in order to establish test-retest reliability and to compare them with an established measure of olfactory performance (the Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center Test, CCCRC). Performance decreased with increasing age of the subjects ({rho} > 0.001). Coefficients of correlation between seesions 1 and 2 were 0.61 for thresholds, 0.54 for discrimination and 0.73 for identification. Butanol thresholds as obtained with the CCCRC increased as a function of age; this relation to the subjects' age was not found the CCCRC odor identification task. The test-retest reliability for CCCRC thresholds was 0.36, for odor identification it was 0.60. It is concluded that ‘Sniffin’ Sticks' may be suited for the routine clinical assessment of olfactory performance. Chem Senses 22: 39–52, 1997.


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